I'm Fred Mills, and I love construction. As a journalist, I've spent years looking into
every corner of this amazing industry I've explored inside nuclear fusion reactors,
famous landmarks, iconic skyscrapers, and chatted to billionaire innovators,
all in my quest to lift up and showcase how amazing this industry is and highlights how it
shapes our world. But while we're surrounded by proof of what construction can do,
I'm now on a mission to get it to achieve something very different.
I'm
taking you up here, so it's not really cool.
Wow look about be what an example of how amazing construction is. Just walk up to
Greenwich Park in London, see so much of the city. It's incredible. Over that shard tallest
building in the UK city of London, 20 Bishopsgate, which is the second tallest building in the UK,
and then Canary Wharf in the background, which has just exploded over recent years.
30 years ago, that was just one tower that had just gone up, One Canada square. It's just so much
in one view, so much of this city's development, so much history, so much of what this industry is
capable of, you know, from infrastructure to civic centres, skyscrapers, heritage,
it's all here in front of you. Bring your kids up to go to Greenwich Park, honestly it's awesome.
But as amazing as this industry is, there's a crisis going on amongst its people. You know,
here in the UK on average, two people take their own lives in construction every day and that is a,
it's a shocking statistic, one that I didn't really know about when I was
still struggling to get my head around.
But it doesn't have to be like that. It's very simple, I think, for us to take the first step.
We're not talking about making sure everyone goes on a mental health first aid course or ask
each other how they're doing it all the time, it doesn't come naturally, especially to guys.
It's not about another initiative or another marketing thing around
mental health it's about taking basic steps at grassroots among the industry.
If we can do that we can help our people do better in the industry. That changes everything. It
enables us to attract the best talent and enables us to appear compassionate and welcoming. It shows
that we're a sector that cares about physical safety as well as mental safety, it puts the
two on a par. And our people, this industry runs on it's people, our people will better enable to
tackle those things like climate change, supply chain issues, material innovation, all that stuff.
We can do this. We can make it happen. It just needs to have that first step.
I'm meeting up again with Chris, who I spoke to in the last episode. I want
to hear from him what it is about the structure of the construction
industry that causes people trouble and what the industry can do to improve.
What is it, to your mind, what what are the ingredients that are making construction
so predisposed to this issue?
One of the things that we've got clear published evidence on is that those people working in roles
where they've got lower control in their roles, there are, you're at even higher risk of dying
by suicide. The practical implications of working in the industry in Australia and I
imagine this is similar in other countries as well too. They can be very long working
hours and that can lead to direct hardships in terms of maintaining the social connections,
those connections that actually do normally keep us safe. We also know I often use the analogy of
a city skyline as if you think of a building and no building, building no building. That's almost
like you've got periods of work, no work, work, no work periods of money coming in and then not, can
lead to real trouble in terms of how you manage your household finances. And we know that these
are some of the basic things that are prevalent in the industry and then can impact people in
terms of that with their mental wellbeing and sadly, suicide. So make mates was set up back in
that 14 years ago we started it was an idea that came from people in the industry. There's too many
deaths by suicide. There's something going wrong here and that at that point they got Griffith
University in Australia to do a piece of research. What that actually showed was that of the workers
that were dying by suicide in the industry, 93% of them hadn't connected to formal services
to the help that's available to to doctors, to counsellors. And we realised that that was the
opportunity to make a real difference. I'm pleased to say that we do do research with the University
of Melbourne and the really good thing that that's actually shown is that the rates of suicide across
the construction industry are coming down. So we know we're on the right track, we know we're
having real impacts across the industry, but we also know there's more work to do.
What are you most hopeful for,
what are you most optimistic about, about where this issue is heading?
The my the thing that I'm most optimistic about is the fact that workers keep stepping forward
to take on the program, volunteers on site that are actually going to help people get the help
they need when they need it so that those construction workers that are looking after
their mates at work, they're also... They also belong to footy clubs or other sporting clubs or
churches. I reckon the thing that I love most about this industry is that most people don't
realise it is one big community. It's even though it's a massive industry the way everyone actually
does know so many people and they actively, they care about the people they work with,
they care about their mates. And that's one of the things that I think is really special
about construction and people miss that, that it is actually a genuine community of people.
They enjoy working together, they enjoy their work and they enjoy working together.
Speaking to Chris has made me realise there are small steps
the industry can take to have a huge impact. And if we all take
the time to look out for our friends and colleagues, then change will come.
Now, just in case you're thinking, well, this is a nice idea, but it'll never catch on. Let's take
a little trip down memory lane. Only a few decades ago, construction sites looked like this compared
to today. PPE was non-existent, and the term health and safety was almost unheard of. That's
unthinkable today, but only thanks to years of campaigning. In the UK in 1991, there were
7.9 fatal injuries per 100,000 construction workers, four times the national average.
Today, it's 1.6. It's still one of the worst performing industries. And that number is,
of course, far too high. But it just goes to show how far we've come. If we can do this to improve
our physical safety, then there's no reason why we can't do the same for our mental wellbeing too.
I've come to meet Steve. He saw the need for those social connections that Chris talked
about and started Construction Sport, a charity which helps create bonding
opportunities for people in the industry and gives them a chance to have some fun.
So, Steve, what is construction sport?
Construction sport is pretty much a, we're a charity based now in the UK. It's all about
giving construction workers the opportunity to enjoy themselves, really. Let their hair down
for the benefits of mental health but physical health obviouslly benefits with it as well.
And the idea is you bring people together outside of normal jobs.
Yeah, that's it. So what we've realised, I'm a ground worker at heart, but
we just want an opportunity to enjoy yourself and if you can get people away from that day to day
on the tools or in the office, whatever you're doing, in an environment where people can let
their guard down a bit and create opportunity for people and enjoy it. And sport is scientifically
proven to benefit people in that way. We just need opportunity. The military do it,
fire brigade do it, the police service do it, ambulance service, the banking sector.
All have organisations oversee sport and we're bigger than all of them and we don't.
Getting people off construction sites into a different environment,
what reaction do you see to that, how do you see people change?
It's just a bit of freedom from the world and just that whole... We all done as kids,
a lot of us running around full time in the playground. So you just literally vent your
aggression and everything you've got and put it into the playground. But now that playground
isn't, unless you create it for yourself, it's not there. And that's what I see with lots of sports
and hobbies in general. I say sport is what that's for us but if you're into knitting, if you're into
anything tiddlywinks, you kow what I mean? If it's a hobby or interest, keep it up. And you
realise, you go "I'm not actually on my own here" and that whole kind of problem, shared problem
halved sort of thing, it comes out and realise and go, "cor, I'm not the only one actually."
So there's one guy that we done it, the one which probably always sticks to me. Didn't see it
coming really, but I was training in the gym one morning and then the lad who worked in the gym,
I know through the rugby world, he said to me... I said "can you play in a few weeks time? We're
playing". And I said, "we need we need a prop, we need a big lump." And he's that man. And he said,
"course Steve, whenever that fixture is, just let me know I'm there for you" and
I'll just thought to myself... straight away I was like "happy days" and he said,
"you realise what you've done for me In the last match" and I was like "mate brilliant". I didn't
ask him and he said, "You remember when you sent me that message to play two years prior to that?"
He said, "yeah well, I was about to do something very silly." He's phone literally bleeped and he
looked at it and went "oh the boy's name of the weekend, I down't want to let 'em down."
It snapped him out of this dark place he was in at the time. And that's what I think, as men
have in that escapism from the world by going and doing some sport helps massively.
Someone that's feeling like they're struggling with the mental health of
them in construction, some of those in that place, and we all been there.
What would your advice be? What would you say to him?
Probably along lines of that, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Don't go making any
silly mistakes or these decisions that can't be reversed. You feel like it's the end of the world
and it really isn't. It's like you're still here, you're enjoying yourself. Everything
can be repaired. You talk to people closest to you, get on a support line.
That's the serious undertone isn't it, what we're saying is, we're not asking everyone to become
mental health experts, or asking everyone how you're feeling all the time but that question of,
"are you alright mate?" It's as simple as y'know "are you ok for the moment, you don't
see yourself" and it's as a positive thing, isn't it? I was saying, like you, we don't want just to
go out and start talking about or asking each other or how they're feeling in a very kind
of forced way. This is is people dying all the time in construction because of this issue. It's
a shocking issue. Just kind of normalising the conversation a bit is a positive thing, isn't it?
Yeah, definitely.
If you've covered this from 2016 now, you've watched construction
mental health for a few years. What do you feel most positive about now when
you look at this? Because there's a lot of negatives, but what are you optimistic about.
The people all day long, especially the people, the people on the ground pushing it,
in the offices. It's not just site staff: everyone. The industry is made up of some
incredible people and people give it hope. And I think I've heard it before so if you've got hope,
if everything fails, you go a little bit. I hope I really think it'll repair itself.
Steve's optimism and positivity really give me hope. The camaraderie you get from playing
with a team helps so many people let off steam and get a sense of perspective. It
goes to show that managing your mental health doesn't need to be daunting.
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love this industry. It's my, it's my passion,
I just can't get enough of it. And I'm incredibly lucky that I get to
tell this industry's story. I get to travel the world and see so many of its amazing projects,
hear so many of its amazing tales and meet so many of its amazing people. The story of it's
mental health is one that I found really hard to tell. It's hit really close to home, for me.
Making these films has really revealed to me the scale of the mental health problem
in the construction industry. The statistics are shocking,
but through the people I've met, it's clear the attitudes are starting to
change and that by having conversations like these, we are making a difference.
It goes to show the power of what can be achieved if we get construction talking.
We're raising awareness of this issue through our Get Construction Talking initiative supported
by Procore. You can get more information and links to support through our portal,
podcasts and free events. We're also raising money for established construction,
mental health charities, helping lift them up, support them and enable them to do more
to solve this problem. We'd love a donation of any kind, it would be really, really appreciated.
The most helpful thing you could do would be to start talking to share this video series with your
friends and colleagues to help raise awareness of this issue and help us take the first step.